The conference centered around research on the physics of musical instruments and voice, sound synthesis and analysis, and the perception of musical sounds. In his talk, Hoekje incorporated demonstrations of a variety of instruments, including the crowd-favorite "carrot clarinet."

Hoekje’s teaching philosophy encourages students to take their learning beyond the classroom: "All my classes incorporate hands-on or experiential learning, because it’s fun and makes learning the abstract concepts much easier. There is always a project where students apply the course material to something directly relevant to themselves."

While Dr. Hoekje teaches physics workshop courses and courses on waves, optics, and mechanics, he passes on his passion for musical science in his 100-level acoustics course with labs that include students constructing their own flutes.